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MENTAL MODEL · M7808

Conflict Monitoring Model

Conflict Monitoring Model
Learn & MetacognitionmediumCognitive Psychology
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Updated 2026-08-10

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

The conflict monitoring model holds that the brain continuously monitors cognitive processes for conflict, as in the Stroop effect where a color word and its ink color clash, and that the detected conflict signal triggers an increase in cognitive control. The feeling of something being off or effortful is the mind's conflict alarm, and that alarm automatically recruits additional attentional resources.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Treat friction as data: a sense of effort or wrongness is a signal, not noise - Name the conflict: identify whether the clash is task competition or contradictory information - Slow down deliberately: spend the extra attention the conflict signal just bought you

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Regions including the anterior cingulate continuously compare parallel processing streams for conflict, as when a color word disagrees with its ink color in the Stroop task. Once conflict is detected, the signal upregulates cognitive control in prefrontal regions, strengthening attention and inhibition, so the clash closes a detection-to-control loop.

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cingulate_cortexZH · Explicit
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